Saturday, February 20, 2016

Twitter's introduction of a search function for moving images commonly used on social media prompted users of the website on Wednesday to tweet their own pictures expressing enthusiasm over the feature.

Twitter said on Wednesday in a blog post that users could search and browse a GIF library when composing a tweet or direct message. A GIF, short for graphic interchange format, is a moving image that plays over and over again. It is often used on social media to express users' emotions.

Last year, people on Twitter shared over 100 million GIFs — expressing everything from their mood, to an amazing dunk, to their favorite dance move from a music video. Now, sharing GIFs in Tweets and Direct Messages is even easier with our new GIF search.Starting today, GIF search will roll out over the coming weeks to everyone around the world on iOS, Android, and twitter.com. To learn more, check out our Help Center. Our GIF search includes all the GIFs you know and love, courtesy of our partners at GIPHY and Riffsy.

“GIPHY delivers real-time GIFs as they happen, helping to power Twitter’s live commentary and conversation,” says Alex Chung, founder and CEO of GIPHY. “GIPHY’s users are creating GIFs for news, entertainment, sports, and expression that can enrich Tweets. We’re excited to work with Twitter to make sharing these GIFs even easier.” “So much can be expressed with GIFs, and the key is to find just the right one in the moment that quickly and efficiently expresses your emotions,” says David McIntosh, CEO and co-founder of Riffsy. “We’re excited to explore this partnership with Twitter and watch Twitter users discover and share their favorite GIFs in their daily lives.”